The Art of Jury Reading; Lawyers in Terror Trial Study Every Tie

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.

Published: September 30, 1995

Since Sunday morning, the jurors in the terrorism trial of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and nine others have been locked in a heavily guarded room, wrestling with the prosecutors' assertion that the defendants plotted to wage "a war of urban terrorism" against America.

During eight months of testimony, lawyers on both sides have made an art of trying to read the jurors, who have been kept anonymous for their own security. Like anthropologists studying a lost tribe, the lawyers have searched for clues to the jurors' thoughts in a roll of the eyes, a glassy stare, a wink, a sigh, an angry look.

For instance, Juror No. 2, a 59-year-old computer specialist from Manhattan, took copious notes, rolled her eyes at defense lawyers and beamed when the prosecutors made their closing arguments. "She's a queen for the prosecution," said one defense lawyer, requesting anonymity.

And Juror No. 7, a fresh-faced 35-year-old telecommunications worker from Mount Pleasant, N.Y., who was extremely attentive during the defense summations, objected to having his belongings searched during deliberations, a sign that he will question authority, lawyers said. "He's definitely got a heart," said another defense lawyer, who insisted on anonymity. "But we don't know how strong he is."

No one but District Judge Michael B. Mukasey and his clerk know the names and addresses of the 12 people who are deliberating a range of charges that include attempted bombing, murder, seditious conspiracy to overthrow the United States Government and conspiracy to bomb New York landmarks. But court documents reveal that they are an unusual group for a Federal jury in Manhattan, in that most of them are black or Hispanic, and most are from the Bronx.

Defense lawyers believe this will work against the prosecution. Conventional wisdom holds that poor people from minority neighborhoods are more likely to believe the authorities can make mistakes than more affluent jurors are.

"All other things being equal," said one of the defense lawyers, Wesley M. Serra, "people from the Bronx are so distrustful of authorities that they make good jurors."

The lawyers admit that reading a jury is not a science, but the best guess of the defense is that when deliberations began, at least two jurors appeared to be in the prosecution's camp while at least three seemed skeptical of the prosecution. The rest are either difficult to read or, in the view of the lawyers, likely to follow whatever the majority decides.

"I think there are matched some strong personalities on both sides," said Lynne F. Stewart, Mr. Abdel Rahman's lawyer. "But I still have to say it has more of a lean to the defense side. This is a jury that can hear arguments of outrageous government misconduct and believe them."

Prosecutors declined to comment about the jury."We just won't have any comment until the verdict is in," said Marvin Smilon, a spokesman for the United States Attorney's office.

The jurors have sat through often tedious testimony from 200 witnesses in the largest terrorism case ever tried in America, unable to say a word about what they think. In the last few days, they have given at least some clue as to what is on their minds.

First, they sent out several notes asking for testimony about two defendants who played peripheral roles in the bombing plot, Ibrahim A. Elgabrowny and Mohammad Saleh. Then, on Wednesday, their requests for testimony suggested that they had moved on to the murder charge against El Sayyid Nosair, the man accused of killing Rabbi Meir Kahane, a radical Zionist, in November 1991.

On Thursday, their focus seemed to shift back to Mr. Elgabrowny, as they asked the judge a legalistic question: Does a search warrant for Mr. Elgabrowny's house allow Federal agents to search his person as well? Later in the afternoon, they asked for testimony from a telephone call between Mr. Elgabrowny and an FBI informer, Emad A. Salem.

Entering a fourth day of deliberations yesterday, the jury began asking to review the testimony of another prosecution witness, Abdo Mohammed Aggag, who testified that Mr. Abdel Rahman had approved a plot to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in April 1993.

As a whole, they are a mature group; the youngest is 35. There are six men and six women. Six of the jurors are white, two of them Hispanic, and six are black. Seven are from the Bronx, three from Westchester County and two from Manhattan.

Four of the 12 jurors graduated from college. The rest have at least a high school education, many with some college credits. Their occupations are varied: mail carrier, accountant, transit worker, computer programmer, telecommunications worker, civil clerk, mental health worker, bank employee and hospital worker.

Juror No. 2, the computer specialist, who said she regularly reads The New York Times, Gourmet magazine and the Harvard Health Newsletter and watches the "MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour," has served on five previous juries. She rolled her eyes and sighed when Roger Stavis, the lawyer for Mr. Nosair, rose for cross-examinations and closing arguments. She worries the defense.